BALTIMORE – Deviana Walker and
TaKenya Stafford posted 15 kills apiece and the Eagles served a season-high 13 aces as the Coppin State volleyball team defeated Norfolk State, 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-19, 25-21) on Friday night at PEC Arena. CSU now stands at 9-11 overall and 5-0 in the MEAC while the Spartans fell to 7-10 on the year and 2-3 in league play.
A freshman from nearby Odenton, Md., Walker had her best performance in her young career, hitting .394 on 33 attempts while adding a pair of blocks. Stafford notched another double-double, hitting .278 with ten digs and a pair of aces.
Ezgi Kucuk also had her best offensive match of the season, recording 12 kills with just one error on 25 attempts to hit .440.
Sophia Bertotti Metoyer hit an error-free .667 with eight kills on 12 swings while matching Walker and
McKenzie Parks with two blocks.
Coco Figueroa had a career-high six aces, with five coming on consecutive points, along with 15 digs, matching
Gabriela Zuquelo for a team-high. Zuquelo and
Aya Rawlins also had a pair of aces.
Kahea Carvalho (25) and
Azul Pilahg (24) combined for 49 assists as the eagles outhit Norfolk State, .324 to .305. Carvalho added seven digs to Pilahg's five.
The opening set was all Coppin, who pulled away midway through with a 10-2 run with Walker tallying three kills and a block during the stretch. After a kill by Stafford made it 22-12, Kucuk added two more before a NSU service error decided the frame.
Norfolk State held a commanding 20-13 lead in the second set before Coppin ran off seven-straight points to tie it up. Zuquelo and Bertotti Metoyer started the run with kills before Figueroa aced the Spartans on five-straight points. After trading points, NSU got a kill and an ace to tie the match at a set apiece.
With CSU clinging to a 11-10 lead in the third, Stafford had a kill and an ace to bookend a 4-1 run to put some distance between the teams. Stafford added two more kills during another 4-1 spurt to put Coppin up 22-15 and she closed it out with another kill and an ace.
Coppin led 16-10 in the fourth and it looked like the Eagles would run away with it, but Norfolk fought its way back to within 19-18. Zuquelo had kills on both ends of a 4-0 run by the Eagles to make it a 23-18 advantage before the Spartans fought back to within 23-21. Kucuk stopped the drought with a kill before Zuquelo aced the Green & Gold to clinch the win.
The Eagles return to action on Sunday, October 13 when they head to our Nation's Capital to play Howard in a 1 pm start on ESPN+. Both teams are a perfect 5-0 in the MEAC thus far with the winner taking sole possession of first place.
